Jun. 21—The Coyne family recently opened Crowley's, a Croatian/Irish-American bar and restaurant, in Eastlake, which has been 10 years in the making.

A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new business took place on June 20 at the former Manny's Place, located at 35647 Vine St. According to Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley, Manny's has been on Vine Street for the last 80 years prior to the owner retiring.

"McPat (Coyne, the owner) went to school with my daughters," Morley said. "I said are you ever going to come to Eastlake? I tried to get them into the plaza across the street and 10 years later, they finally came. I know they're excited to be here and we're excited to have them.

"Also, if you want to see the Ohio State Buckeyes play, this is the place. The Coyne brothers love Ohio State."

When it came down to naming the restaurant, the Coynes and their team tried to think of a name that would tie the Irish and the Croatians together, McPat said. As a result, the Irish/Croatian bar pays homage to Thomas Crowley, an Irishman who fought in the Croatian War of Independence.

"It's a cool, interesting story," McPat said, pointing up to the history that's on the wall at Crowley's.

To bring Crowley's to life, McPat and Seamus Coyne teamed up with David Bartulovic, the owner of Sol in downtown Willoughby, and Brendan Kearney. Soccer games, smash burgers and other dive bar menu items will be featured at the new establishment.

"We want to say thank you to Eastlake and everyone for having us," McPat said. "We've been lucky in a sense of everything we've gotten to do in downtown Willoughby, so to expand into Eastlake — we're super excited."

After McPat and Seamus started opening businesses in Willoughby, they got into a food truck business with Bartulovic and later teamed up with Kearney.

"It was like a dream team for us," McPat said.

Bartulovic said the partnership was meant to be.

"We always thought about doing something together and the food truck was the thing that tagged us together," he said.

Hours of operation for Crowley's are from 11 a.m. to close on weekdays and 7 a.m. to close on weekends. For more information, visit www.crowleysdive.com.